News From February 2006

Deathbox is the blue collar working man's skateboard company.
We respect and honor our forefathers and we respect and honor
the determination and loyalty of that select crew who skates
for the purity of it all.
Going forward in 2006 and beyond, we will give props to unsung heroes,
the iconic mentors and pay tribute to the roots of our beginnings.

hello
Ethan and Angel are out in australia as you know, and I got an email from angel saying it was going good with the TWS dudes skating daily and getting photos and footy. no word on what he has gotten but im sure it is good stuff. he should have some footy in the upcoming TWS vid this summer.

Slash is officially 100% and has been shredding like usual in north county with the NS crew. He is talking about coming up soon and going out shooting with trihn and dawes. also he is now getting trucks from indy. not sure if it is team status yet, but when he goes out with dawes im sure he will be team all the way.

Baca and Ragdoll are in vegas shreding street and parks alike filming with a friend of theirs in vegas. might be going up soon with trinh once we can all get linked up at the right times.

Nuge, Duffman, and rusczyk will be going on a Duffs/sessions/pig 2 week road trip with Dave Hoang and rodent through the deep south ending at Tampa pro. Nuge might have droped hurley and joined duffman at sessions so the rumors are. will know by the next update for sure.
thats it thats all

Our deepest condolences from everyone from Tum Yeto to Harold Hunter's family and friends. It's a tragic loss of a great and unique person and rider of the board.

Please take a moment in remeberence of Harold as well as to appreciate your loved ones.

Respectfully the Tum Yeto crew.

photo: Ray Mendez

Harold Hunter, 31, Skateboarder With Celebrity Appeal, Dies

By COREY KILGANNON

Published: February 25, 2006

Harold Hunter, whose skateboarding prowess and outsize personality led him to modeling and movie roles, celebrity friendships and prominence in the downtown Manhattan scene, was found dead on Feb. 17 in the East Village housing project where he grew up. He was 31.

His brother, Ronald, who summoned the police to the apartment, said the cause was a heart attack.

Mr. Hunter was already well known in skateboarding circles when he was a teenager and began gaining mainstream fame after landing film roles, including one in "Kids," the 1995 movie portraying a decadent teenage subculture.

By his early teens, he was touring with Zoo York, the prominent New York skateboarding team, and appearing widely in skateboard magazines and videos, showing his mastery of moves, from basic skills like the ollie, a skateboard hop, to high-flying backside heel flips.

From benches to stoops to staircases and building facades to handrails, the cityscape of Lower Manhattan became Mr. Hunter's skate park. He was a fixture in Washington Square, Union Square and Astor Place and at skating spots like the Brooklyn Banks, the concrete slopes under the Brooklyn Bridge in Manhattan.

Harold Atkins Hunter's mother died when he was a child, and he was raised by family members in the Campos Plaza housing project on East 13th Street. In addition to Ronald, he is survived by another brother, Michael Hunter, and his sister, Rebecca Hunter.

"When he was a kid, his brother said: 'What are you doing skateboarding? That's for white kids,' " recalled his friend Billy Rohan, a professional skateboarder. "Harold said, 'Are you saying I should be stealing TV sets?' He got smacked for that, but he never stopped skating."

He began earning money from Zoo York and from skateboarding competitions and modeling for clothing companies like Tommy Hilfiger; he also got television acting roles.

Mr. Hunter grew up on the same block as the actress Rosario Dawson. When she was 15, he helped persuade the director of "Kids," Larry Clark, to cast her in the movie, Ms. Dawson recalled on Thursday at Mr. Hunter's wake on the Lower East Side.

"Harold's skateboard was just a vehicle," she said, adding: "He became famous for his personality and his spirit. If anybody came to New York, he would take them in and show them the city."

"I saw some skate kids when I was in Brazil," she said. "When they heard I was from New York, they said: 'New York? Do you know Harold? ' "

Mr. Hunter was laid out in a coffin wearing his silver Nike sneakers, and with him were his trademark black fedora and a skateboard.

Hundreds of visitors filed through the funeral home, some carrying briefcases or Prada bags or skateboards. Photographs showed Mr. Hunter sitting on the street or reveling with celebrities, including Paris Hilton.

As a teenager, he earned a reputation as the king of New York's skateboarding scene, but his skating skill was perhaps surpassed only by his charm and his fondness for parties. His fame expanded beyond skateboard circles to night life and music scenes and celebrity and underground culture.

Ray Mendez, a skateboard professional and a filmmaker, said: "He was a human magnet. One minute, he'd be hanging out with a celebrity, the next minute, he'd be with a wino."

With an endearing bravado, Mr. Hunter referred to himself as a legend and ranted constantly about one day "getting famous" and bedding supermodels.

"He was the ambassador to downtown Manhattan," Mr. Rohan said. He said Mr. Hunter had helped galvanize New York's skateboarding movement by recruiting black and Hispanic children and by introducing them to the young suburbanites who had abandoned privileged lives to skate the streets of New York.

With age, acting roles were harder to come by and petty contract and sponsorship disputes hindered his efforts to start his own skateboard equipment and apparel companies.

He never held a formal day job and always seemed to be one step away from being broke and homeless. He lived on a steady diet of fried chicken and mayonnaise sandwiches and depended on the per diem pay from the skate team manager.

"The skateboard world was his family, and anywhere he went he was a walking party," Mr. Rohan said.
Mr. Hunter died essentially penniless, and collections from friends and fans have helped pay for his wake and burial.

"His skateboarding was a metaphor," Mr. Mendez said. "Harold was always rolling, always moving and transitioning between people and places and situations. He was born with all kinds of obstacles, and he ollied over them all."

Austin got a new clothing sponsor. Scope it.
Here it is huge in case you want to print it out on silk and use it as a sail in a boat race or something.
"Suffer the Joy", sometimes filming feels like pissing in the ocean. You'll be swimming in yellow in no tiime...

Diego cuts his way into whatever the hell he wants to skate...
It is the toy machine way.
Be sure to check out the Cul-De-Sac of Lameness now that I am back...
And NEVER forget that we are making a video: Suffer the Joy. Start saving your money right now. Curb your coke (a-cola?) habit so you can buy a skate video.

Posted February 25th, 2006 by master-bator of the mongrel troll visigoths

Even in a place of pure goodness on a cloudless day, Bennett searches out shadows while humming obscure Depeche Mode and contemplating new ways to bend his board and body.
"Tickle your whatever," he's been known to say.
"Suffer the Joy", eating away at idleness and anxiety.

Be it partying with the Art Czar of Italy or rolling around the Huntington Park in a fit of laughter, Ed brings a cloud of child-like amusement wherever he goes. We've missed him.
...and so did Grif.
"Suffer the Joy", you count the seconds, I'll count the stars, we'll see who wins.

=
Foundation riders Angel Ramirez and Ethan Fowler will be in Australia for a good part of Febuary and the beginning of March with Vans. They will be shredding all the great spots Oz has to offer so if you get a chance to check out any of the demos you will be hyped.

Mike Rusczyk has spent six years as a sponsored Am for Foundation Skateboards Company (Foskco), and is finally retiring as an amateur skateboarder and being promoted to full Pro Skateboarder. To celebrate.....Read more here
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"LEGENDS NEVER DIE"
The skateboard world has lost another great one. Harold Hunter passed away on February 17th 2006. We here at Tum Yeto send our greatest respects to his family and friends thru out the world. Harold was a great person with a sense of humor like no other. His love for life, friends, and skateboarding can never be matched. Harold will never be forgotten and will live in our minds for ever. If you would like to donate funds to help with his funeral costs please do so by logging on to. www.haroldhunter.com

You're never quite sure what the evil grin and sideways glance means when it comes from Bilbo. It could be something that you both get a kick out of and have a laugh at or it could be an errie premonition of some bizarre practical joke that is about to befall you. He always keeps you guessing...
"Suffer the Joy", a promotional tool and a guide to living.

Pig Wood proudly welcomes Matt Ball to its team. Matt’s skating speaks for itself, his well rounded, smooth style combined with big tricks makes him a pleasure to watch and a great addition to Pig Wood’s unique skateboard team. Matt joins long time friend and pro rider Anthony Scalamere, also known as Ragdoll along with Brian Hansen, Sammy Baca, Shuriken Shannon, Adrian Mallory, Eric Hamamoto, and recently added Don “The Nuge” Nguyen. Lot’s of exciting changes are being made for 2006, keep and eye out for further developments and new pro boards.

MORROW LEGISLATION WILL PROTECT CITIES,
END DISCRIMINATION AGAINST SKATEBOARDERS

SACRAMENTO – “The skaters have been speaking and I’ve been listening.”

With those opening comments, Senator Bill Morrow (R-Carlsbad) announced his new legislation designed to provide more complete liability protection for local governments that build and operate public skateboard parks.

“This bill is for the skateboarders,” said Morrow. “Senate Bill 1179 will protect local governments, encourage building of more public skateboard parks, and expand usage of existing parks. The bill will toss out the arbitrary age restrictions in current law, a restriction that excludes a huge percentage of young skateboarders from using public parks.”

The North San Diego County Republican successfully authored legislation in 1996 and 2001 that increased liability protection for publicly owned and operated skateboard parks. Those laws contributed to a broad-based effort to encourage building safe, accessible public parks where skateboarders can congregate and ply their skills. But Morrow said that much more needs to be done.

The senator said, “The earlier bills were important steps. But, quite frankly, they are inadequate to keep up with the growing demand, evolving demographics and other dynamic realities of the skateboarding community. This new measure speaks directly to those problems.”

Existing law provides liability protection to public agencies and public employees when recreational enthusiasts participate in certain popular activities designated as “hazardous recreational activities.” The list of designated activities is contained in Section 831.7 of the California Government Code.

SB 1179 would add skateboarding to that list of activities, granting skateboarding what is termed as “straight HRA status.” The bill would treat skateboarding in public skateparks with the same liability protections already afforded much riskier activities.

“We provide full HRA protection to activities such as skydiving, hang gliding, motor vehicle racing, off-road motorcycling and body contact sports,” said Morrow. “It’s ridiculous and discriminatory to treat skateboarding as if it is more dangerous than jumping out of an airplane at 10,000 feet.”

The senator concluded, “It’s time we stopped discriminating against skateboarders, marginalizing participants in what has become a dominant cultural activity. The State of California has an interest in encouraging, not discouraging, participation in a creative physical activity at well planned, responsibly designed skateboard parks.”

Foundation Skateboards recently hosted "The Retirement Party" art show at BLENDS in San Diego, California. The show celebrated Mike's new pro status and his creative side as well as giving his friends a chance to share the spotlight. The project consisted of 150 painted boards done by Mike Rusczyk and friends in a two-month period. It was a huge success and we are excited to share the experience with everyone that couldn¹t be there in person. Mike has built a unique website to showcase the art pieces and to sell them off for a good cause. The boards will be sold for $50.00 each plus shipping and proceeds will go to the Lift Foundation. Thanks to everyone who came to the show and anyone who takes the time to check out or buy one of the limited edition painted boards. Check it out!

We're outta here tomorrow! Kansas City Indoor Skatepark needed a demo and Toy Machine is there to handle shit. If you're one of the 3 kids in KC reading this, you're stoked! For everyone else, just disregard this and go to Crailtap or something...
"Suffer the Joy", for you as much as us.

Posted February 9th, 2006 by Sunset Pictures, The Benihanas of Photography

So, I'm told this is a rundown of the FACES of Griffin Collins, and putting a skate photo up seems to confuse all that. To set things right I've gone ahead and placed this beautiful portrait of Grif for all to see. Enjoy.

Pig Wood proudly welcomes Don “The Nuge” Nguyen to its pro team.
Don’s skateboarding is smooth, powerful, with massive pop. He still holds the record for most stairs ollied when he ollied El Toro’s 21 stairs years ago. Since then Don has been on a mission, shredding the streets and having a good time living the life as a professional skateboarder. Don’s enthusiasm and skills are sure to add greatness to the already amazing Pig Wood team. Don joins forces with good friends and Pig Wood teammates Ragdoll, Sammy Baca, Brian “Slash” Hansen, Adrian Mallory, Shuriken Shannon, and Eric Hamamoto.

The Del Mar Skate Ranch website is up and running with timeless contributions from Grant Brittain, Dave Swift, and Dan Sturt, with photos from Chip Morton and video from Adrian Demain on the way. It was all put together by OG DM local, Owen Nieder.

These boys were at a demo for a shop called New Generation. I had never seen nipple flair displayed in such a manner. New Gen indeed...
"Suffer the Joy", we'll squeeze the teet of patience until it runs dry.

Have you heard of this thing called myspace?? its crazy man..all these weirdos with digi cams looking into mirrors...well Cataclysmic Abyss has a page. Seriously dude. So go join the excitment...stay tuned for exclusive imagery, info and general marketing goodness.
All brought to you by your friends at the Foundation Ministry of Propaganda.

Josh expresses himself openly and often. This moment was captured just before his head popped off in a fit of excitement. He's an enthusiastic young feller.
"Suffer the Joy", not exactly a sequel, but more of an epilogue.

Even Matt B. is tempted to pull his hair out from time to time. It's easy to get lost in a life of travel, skating, leisure and fame. Mr. Bennett uses his floppy wig and mellow demeanor as a compass and navigates with the best of them.
"Suffer the Joy", take it as instruction or distraction...

Ed has handled some of the most mind boggling swells and path obstructing boulders with deft moves and logical reasoning, but will this next abyss be too much? Time will tell I suppose...
"Suffer the Joy" another drop in the video bucket. It's already overflowing.

On tour sometimes you're skating, sometimes your waiting, and sometimes you're wandering an abandoned steel mill and climbing all over trains. Well, at least this one time....
New video, "Suffer the Joy", call your local skateshop and start pestering. They love that shit.

Ah yes, another year at the Tampa Am has passed. Friends were made and stories of the past were rekindled. The best part of the Tampa contest is obviously the skateboarding. 2006 was the year of the "NEW FACES". I have been to the Tampa contest 6 times and this year there were tons of new kids whom I have never seen before, and it looks as if skateboarding is in good hands for the future. My trip this year was made possible by the mega corporation Tum Yeto. We had a strong crew and all the brands were represented.
From the Foundation family we had Angel Ramirez, who ripped the bowl all weekend long but didn't fair too well in the contest. We also had new guy Alex Gourdouros from Maine ripping the course, but fell short of the 16 man cut. Foundation European team guys were also present but could not compete due to injuries.They were bummed but kept in good spirits through out the weekend. The brightest spot from the F troop had to be young Tommy Gurrola.Talk about smooth!!! This kid is amazing on a skateboard. His fluid style and mellow demeanor make him stand out in any crowd and believe me there were heavy crowds in that type of setting. Tommy qualified 11th out of 106 skaters and then missed the cut to the finals by 3 places. He ended up 32nd out of 213. Not bad for a kid who rarely skates contests. I really am looking forward to seeing his video debut in Cataclysmic Abyss.
Pig had its fare share of guys out for the contest as well. Newcomer Eric Hamamoto held his own on the course all weekend. His half cab nose slide reverts had the crowd wanting much more. The two Pig Wood and Wheels veterans Shuriken Shannon and Adrian Mallory were ripping all weekend. From the bowl in the back warehouse to the main street course, these two were holding it down. Shuriken has one of the best tre flips in skateboarding right now and threw it down the three flat three with out effort. Adrian on the other had can skate anything - his no comply tailslides on quaterpipes are just insane.....
The Toy Machine team had Matt Bennet in the mix in Tampa, actually new pro Johnny Layton was out in Tampa as well ripping the back the bowl and shooting gnarly nose picks with Thrasher's own Mike Burnett. Now back to Mister Bennet....this guys is my new favorite. His skating is so clean and stylish and his attitude is that of a veteran pro. He didn't do too well in the contest but it really didn't matter. His skating in practice was what had people talking. The guy has "THE BEST" 360 flips I have ever seen. Matt also has a great taste in music. Toy had a few of their flow guys out there too. Nick Trepaso from Az and Jonathan Yanez from CA ripped the whole weekend but just fell short of the finals.

I will say this had to be the best trip to Tampa in my 6 years' going. The contest was amazing. The kid who won had by far the best contest run I have ever seen and the fact that he was some no name from Texas was the best part.....Viva la Tampa 2007! I can't wait.

Corey’s Sessions sweaters are out now in a couple different colored stripe patterns. Plus he’s working with Sessions on a new pair of really tight fitting black pants called the pogo.

Corey also has a “Day in the Life” coming out on Fuel TV soon. It will feature Corey aswell as his friends and brothers.

Corey’s brother Stephen has just finished his DIY film project. A video called Beautiful Breakdown. It will be for sale on Feb. 18th. Corey has a full part. The video also stars a lot of other awesome skaters like Garret Hill, Angel Ramirez, Matt Allen, Tony Silva, Mike Rusyck and much much more. Plus all of Corey’s friends from the SF area!!! For info contact Stephen Duffel at svideo925@aol.com

On January 20th 2006, Foundation hosted "The Retirement Party" art show at BLENDS in San Diego. The show featured 150 hand painted boards by Mike and a few of his friends to celebrate Mike's "retirement" from AM status. The project took about 2 months to complete. It took a lot of long hours and work but the end result was amazing. The show turn out was great as well. Check out the slideshow HERE. There are still boards avaiable for purchase, proceeds will go to the
Lift The Children foundation.

Stay tuned for a way to get your hands on one online or contact your sales rep for more info.

Here's how it works; the guys skate, we piece it together a little bit at a time, market and package it, you buy it, enjoy it for 30 minutes, and then you forget about it and get a girlfriend or a job or start breakdancing or something. All in a life's work...
"Suffer the Joy", an exercise in futility (and worth every second).